/ 


/£> 


CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION 


AT 


GRAFTON,    MASS 


ORATION 


HY 


REV.    E.    FRANK    HOWE. 


?  A-  P 


■735 

1776  1876 

GRAFTON. 


HISTORICAL    ORATION 


DELIVERED    BYs 


REY.   E.  FRANK    HOWE, 


CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION 


GRAFTON,     MASS., 


July  4th,  1876. 


Woxtt$ttt: 

PRESS     OF     CHAS.     HAMILTON, 


311    MAIN    STREET. 

1878. 


OKATION. 


You  have  been  pleased  to  call  me  to  discharge  to-day 
the  pleasant  and  important  duty  of  speaking  concerning 
the  history  of  Grafton.  I  make  no  attempt  to  conceal 
the  fact  that  the  invitation,  coming  so  unexpectedly  and 
so  heartily,  from  my  native  town  and  the  home  of  my 
boyhood,  to  take  such  a  responsible  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  day-  a  day  destined  to  be  memorable  in  the 
history  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the  town— has  given 
to  me  the  keenest  gratification.  I  esteem  it  an  honor  of 
which  one  may  justly  be  proud— an  honor  as  great  as  I 
know  it  to  be  undeserved. 

I  speak  of  the  duty  assigned  me  as  an  important  one. 
I  esteem  it  such  because  of  the  relation  of  local  to 
general  history.  If  all  the  cities  and  towns  in  this 
country  were  this  day  to  put  on  record  the  more  im- 
portant facts  and  traditions  connected  with  their  history, 
the  future  historians  of  the  individual  states,  and  of  the 
nation,  would  have  an  inexhaustible  fountain  of  material 
from  which  to  draw.  On  the  title-page  of  his  admirable 
history  of  Worcester,  Mr.  Lincoln  has  put  a  quotation, 
in  which  it  is  said,  "  These  local  annals  are  full  of  little 
things,  names,  dates  and  facts,  and  rumors  of  every 
sort,  which  seem  at  first  sight  almost  too  small  to  be 
noticed.  Many  of  these  little  things  which  we  speak  of 
are  little  only  in  size  and  name.  They  are  full  of  rich 
meaning.   They  are  graphic  and  characteristic  in  a  high 


degree.  They  suggest  far  more  than  they  say.  They 
illustrate  classes  of  men  and  ages  of  time.  They  are 
small  but  brilliant  lights  on  the  walls  of  the  past,  pouring 
floods  of  splendor  from  their  nitches  upon  the  abysses 
around  them."  Such  being  the  relation  of  local  to  gener- 
al history,  he  who  gathers  up  the  recorded  incidents, 
and  the  floating  traditions,  connected  with  any  com- 
munity, has  an  important  trust  in  hand.  And  that  com- 
munity which  has  peculiar  facilities  and  unusually  strong 
incentives  for  keeping  in  mind  the  facts  of  its  own 
history,  is  particularly  fortunate.  Such  facilities  and 
incentives  Grafton  finds  in  the  fact  that  the  centuries  of 
its  own  age  terminate  midway  the  centuries  of  the 
nation,  and  thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  twice  each  cen- 
tury, and  at  nearly  equal  intervals,  the  history  of  this 
town  passes  under  review,  and  the  more  important 
events  are  put  on  record.  When  he  who  addresses 
you  to-day  was  a  child  of  two  years,  another,  of 
honored  name  in  the  annals  of  this  town,  delivered, 
probably  very  near  this  spot,  the  historical  oration  com- 
memorative of  the  completion  of  a  hundred  years  of  its 
history.  And  so  possibly  the  child  is  now  born,  and 
perhaps  is  here  present,  who,  at  the  ripe  age  of  60  or 
65  years,  will  deliver  the  address  at  the  celebration 
which  shall  mark  the  completion  of  two  hundred  years 
of  the  history  of  Grafton. 

From  what  I  have  said  you  will  recall  the  fact  that 
Grafton  is  not  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  Nation.  She 
was  in  at  the  nation's  birth,  and  at  that  time  was  a 
vigorous  and  sedate  matron  of  nearly  a  half-century. 
She  witnessed,  aye,  rather  I  must  say,  she  experienced 
herself,  a  full  share  of  the  painful  suspense,  the  alternat- 
ing of  hope  and  fear,  of  desire  and  dread,  which  precede 
the  birth  of  nations  as  well  as  of  individuals;  she  bore 


herself  much  of  the  dreadful  pain  through  which  the 
nation  struggled  into  existence;  she  listened,  doubtless 
with  maternal  joy,  to  the  new-born  nation's  first  utter- 
ance, which,  instead  of  an  infantile  wail,  was  a  manly 
Declaration  of  Independence;  she  watched  the  new 
nation  with  fond  pride — a  pride  at  times  sadly  tempered 
with  anxious  fears — during  the  years  of  early  youth, 
and  she  saw  it  pass  on  to  maturity  and  take  its  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  And  now,  when  the 
nation  is  celebrating  its  centennial  birthday,  we,  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  Grafton,  some  of  us  to  the  manor 
born,  and  some  foster  children,  are  met  to  hear  and  tell, 
some  for  the  first  time,  and  a  few  for  the  second  time, 
what  our  alma  mater  was  doing  during  the  years  before 
the  nation's  birth,  and  what  she  has  been  doing  during 
the  century  since. 

AVe  are  able  to  catch  the  first  faint  flickerings  of 
historical  light,  the  earliest  hints  of  the  approaching 
dawn  of  civilization  over  these  regions,  within  a  month 
of  eleven  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth.  At  that  time,  that  is,  in  January  of  1032, 
Governor  Winthrop  led  an  excursion  up  the  Charles 
River.  And  he  says  that,  after  they  had  gone  up  about 
fifteen  miles,  they  ascended  a  very  high  rock,  where  * 
"  they  might  see  all  over  ^eipnett,  and  a  very  high  hillf 
due  West  about  forty  miles  off."  Here  we  have  the 
record  of  probably  the  very  first  approach  of  the  white 
man  to  this  region,  of  the  first  glimpse  which  the  eyes 
of  civilized  men  ever  caught  of  the  country  hereabout. 
The  name  given  to  a  large  territory  including  this  town, 
and  extending  as  far  west  as  the  Connecticut  River,  was 
the  Nipmuck  Country.     It  was  nearly  four  years  after 


Wiutlirop's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.,  p.  S3,     f  Wachusett. 


6 

Gov.  Winthrop  and  his  party  had  glanced  over  this 
country  to  the  "very  high  hill  due  West,"  and  fifteen 
years  after  Plymouth  Rock  had  been  hallowed,  before 
the  feet  of  the  white  men  pressed  the  soil  here.  At  that 
time,  in  the  Autumn  of  1635,*  a  company  of  emigrants 
started  west.  That  uncertain  and  ever-shifting  locality 
named  the  West,  which  has  now  retreated  to  the  shore  of 
the  Pacific,  was  located  then  in  Connecticut.  These  emi- 
grants, sixty  in  number,  who  had  found  the  land  about 
Massachusetts  Bay  too  straightened  for  them,  passed 
through  this  county  on  their  way  to  Weathersfield. 
From  the  time  when  these  emigrants  pass  through,  or 
near,  this  place,  it  is  eleven  years  before  we  learn  any- 
thing further  concerning  it.  At  the  expiration  of  this 
period,  the  real  history  of  the  town  begins;  and  this 
beginning  of  its  history  is  of  a  religious  and  missionary 
character,  f  John  Eliot,  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians, 
had  conceived  his  grand  idea  of  "civilizing  and  evange- 
lizing the  natives  of  New  England,"  and  had  given  him- 
self to  this  work.  In  carrying  out  his  plan,  he  probably 
came  to  Grafton,  about  the  year  1646,  to  preach  to  the 
Indians.  Thus,  in  26  years  after  the  first  settlement  of 
New  England  by  the  whites,  the  work,  which  was  des- 
tined to  exert  a  powerful  influence  over  the  character  of 
this  town,  was  begun.  The  character  of  New  England, 
that  which  has  made  it  like  leaven  in  this  nation,  permeat- 
ing, and  diffusing  itself  through  all  sections  and  classes 
of  this  growing  and  powerful  land,  is  very  largely,  more 
largely  than  to  anything  else,  due  to  the  religious  princi- 
ples of  its  founders.  The  early  history  of  this  town,  as 
of  New  England  generally,  is  chiefly  a  history  of  the 
church  in  it.     In  fact,    the  church  record,  for  nearly  a 


*  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.,  p.  204.     f  Gookin,    Mass. 
Hist.  Col.,  1st  Scries,  I.,  168. 


century,  is  as  important  as  the  town  record,  and  the  two, 
to  a  very  great  extent,  cover  the  same  ground.  The 
beginning  of  the  religious  history,  and  so  of  the  general 
history  of  the  town,  is  traceable  directly  to  the  preaching 
of  Eliot.  So  I  have  named  this  as  the  period  at  which  the 
real  history  of  Grafton  begins.  It  was  not,  however,  till 
nearly  a  century  later  that  it  was  known  by  the  name  of 
Grafton,  and  it  was  not  until  eight  years  later  that  even 
the  boundary  of  the  town  was  definitely  settled.  At  the 
period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  1(516,  and  until  1735, 
the  place  was  known  by  the  name  of  Hassanamisco, 
sometimes,  in  the  earliest  recorded  allusions,  written 
Hassanamesit.  *  Probably  the  latter  was  the  name  until 
it  was  set  off  as  an  Indian  town  in  1651,  when  it  was 
changed  to  the  former,  f  The  name  signifies  "  a  place 
of  small  stones."  The  appropriateness  of  the  name  is 
apparent  to  even  the  most  casual  observer  who  passes 
through  the  town;  and  certainly  no  boy  who  has  ever 
"rode  the  horse  to  plow,"  or  rattled  and  battered  his  hoe 
among  the  stones  to  get  earth  enough,  by  spoonfuls, 
to  cover  corn  or  potatoes  in  planting-time,  will  be  at 
loss  for  the  origin  of  the  name.  And,  by  the  way,  who 
knows  what  part  these  very  stones  have  had  in  form- 
ing the  character  and  in  extending  the  influence  of  this 
town  !  Courage  to  encounter  difficulties,  perseverance 
under  difficulties,  unceasing  industry  and  frugality,  all 
were  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a  subsist- 
ence, and  win  a  competence  from  the  rocky  farms  of 
this  town.  And  the  miles  upon  miles  of  stone  fences, 
some  of  them  with  foundations  broad  and  deep,  and 
built  far  higher  than  is  necessary  for  the  ordinary 
purposes  of  a  fence,  in  order  to  dispose  of  the  super- 

*  Wilson's  Sermon,  p.  4.     f  Gookin's  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  1st  Series,  Vol.  I., 
p.  184. 


8 

abundance  of  material,  these  tell  what  the  town  must 
have  been,  and  of  the  persevering  toil  which  has  been 
required  in  removing  these  "small  stones" — and  some 
of  them  not  so  very  small  either.  But  from  these  stony 
farms,  and  because  they  were  stony,  have  come  genera- 
tions of  daring,  persevering,  industrious  and  frugal 
sons  and  daughters.  And  also  because  the  farms  were 
stony,  these  same  sons  and  daughters  have  pushed  out 
into  the  world,  giving  the  talents  acquired  in  early  life, 
or  transmitted  from  parent  to  child,  to  other  pursuits, 
and  to  building  up  and  moulding  other  communities. 
Grafton  has  extended  her  influence  over  many  portions 
of  this  land,  and  in  various  walks  of  life,  because,  in  a 
certain  sense  which  you  will  readily  understand,  so 
many  of  her  brave  sons  and  fail'  daughters  have  been 
stoned  out  of  town.  It  is  almost  a  pity  that  the  old  and 
significant  name  of  Hassanamisco  ever  gave  place  to 
that  of  the  English  Duke. 

Eliot  seems  to  have  been  quite  successful  in  his  labors 
here,  for  I  find  the  following  record  concerning  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1G54:  *  "At  this 
Court,  likewise,  Mr.  John  Eliot,  minister  of  Roxbury, 
that  had  heretofore  by  them  been  encouraged  to  go  on 
with  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Indians,  obtained 
several  parcels  of  land  for  the  Indians  that  gave  any 
sincere  hopes  for  their  embracing  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, as  at  Hassanamesit,  a  place  up  in  the  woods 
beyond  Medfield  and  Mendon."  From  this  time,  for  a 
period  of  twenty  years, f  Hassanamisco  seems  to  have 
been  an  important  centre  of  religious  influence.  There 
was  a  school  here  where  the  Bible  was  read  and  studied 
in  the  Indian  language,  X  and  young  men  went  out  as 

*  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  Vol.  VL,  2d  Scries,  page  544.  f  Wilson's  Sermon,  p.  7. 
X  Gookin,  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  1st  Series,  Vol.  I.,  p.  194. 


9 

evangelists  to  the  neighboring  regions.  In  1671,*  Eliot 
formed  an  Indian  church  here,  the  second  formed  in  the 
state.  Three  years  later,  in  1674,f  Major  Daniel 
Gookin,  having  visited  this  place  in  company  with  Mr. 
Eliot,  wrote  an  account  of  it.  He  speaks  of  it  as  a  small 
place,  and  says  "It  hath  not  above  twelve  families,  and 
so  according  to  our  computation  not  above  sixty  souls. 
*  *  *  This  village  is  not  inferior  unto  any  of  the  Indian 
plantations  for  rich  land  and  plenty  of  meadow,  being 
well  tempered  and  watered.  It  produces  plenty  of  corn, 
grain  and  fruit;  for  there  are  several  good  orchards  in 
this  place.  It  is  an  apt  place  for  keeping  cattle  and 
swine;  in  which  respect  this  people  are  the  best  stored 
of  any  Indian  town  of  their  size.  *  *  *  Here  they  have 
a  meeting-house  for  the  worship  of  God  after  the 
English  fashion  of  building,  and  two  or  three  other 
houses  after  the  frame  mode,  but  they  fancy  not  greatly 
to  live  in  them.  *  *  *  There  are  in  full  communion  in 
this  church  about  sixteen  men  and  women,  and  about 
thirty  baptized  persons;  but  there  are  several  other 
members  of  this  church  that  live'in  other  places.  This 
is  a  hopeful  plantation." 

In  the  year  1675,  a  century  before  the  American 
Revolution,  King  Philip's  war  broke  out,  and  during 
this  war  this  promising  settlement  was  entirely  broken 
up, J  and,  though  a  number  of  the  families  returned 
after  the  war,§  yet  the  church  was  probably  never  re- 
established. The  Indians  themselves  were  divided  in 
their  allegiance,  some  adhering  to  the  English  through- 
out, and  others  taking  side  with  Philip,  and  still  others, 
at  first,  deserting  the  English,  but  afterwards  returning 


*  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  1st  Series,  Vol.  I.,  p.  185.      f  Ibid.      J  Ibid.,  Vol.  X.,  p. 
134.     §  Wilson's  Serrnou,  p.  9. 

2 


10 

to  them.  It  was  during  this  war  that  quite  an  impor- 
tant battle  was  fought  on  Keith  Hill,  the  English  gain- 
ing the  victory.  The  day  upon  which  the  battle  was 
fought  was  stormy,  and  the  Indians  were  not  able  to 
use  their  firearms,  while  the  English,  protecting  their 
gun-locks  with  their  garments,  thereby  gained  a  decided 
advantage.  In  the  early  part  of  the  war,  in  order  to 
j)revent  the  Indians  who  were  favorable  to  the  English 
from  being  either  destroyed  or  tampered  with  and  drawn 
away  from  their  allegiance,  and  on  account  of  the  great 
distrust  felt  towards  them,  all  the  friendly  Indians  of 
the  Nipmuck  country  were  confined  at  Hassan  amesitt, 
and  were  forbidden  to  go  more  than  one  mile  from 
their  wigwams,  upon  penalty  of  imprisonment  or  death, 
the  penalty  to  be  inflicted  by  any  person  meeting  them 
beyond  these  limits.*  The  hostile  Indians,  however, 
came  upon  this  company  of  friendly  Indians  with  a 
force  of  three  hundred,  and  either  compelled  or  per- 
suaded about  two  hundred  of  them  to  join  in  the  war 
against  the  English.f  This  led  to  an  expedition  against 
the  town  made  up  of  two  companies  of  English  troops. 
Upon  their  arrival  they  found  the  place  deserted,  and 
pushed  on  to  Packachoage,  which  was  situated  partly  in 
Worcester  and  partly  in  Auburn,  formerly  known  as 
"Ward.  The  Indians  fled  upon  their  approach,  and,  after 
spending  a  night  in  the  deserted  wigwams,  and  hunting 
in  vain  for  the  Indians,  the  English  returned.  A  few 
days  after  the  commander  of  one  of  the  companies, 
Capt.  Henchman,  with  a  few  men  returned  to  Hassana- 
mesitt,  and  in  the  night  made  an  attack  upon  a  company 


*  Transactions  and  Col.  Am.  Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  II.,  p.  450;  Gookiu's 
Hist,  of  Praying  Indians. 

f  Ibid.,  p.  475;  Gookin's  Praying  Indians. 


11 

of  about  forty  Indians  who  were  staying  in  a  wigwam. 
The  Indians  fought  in  the  darkness  with  terrible  desper- 
ation, killing  two  of  his  men.  *  The  heads  of  these 
two  men  were  found  the  next  morning  fastened  upon 
crotched  sticks,  and  facing  each  other,  in  front  of  the 
wigwam;  the  grim  delight  of  the  Indians  being  thus 
most  characteristically  expressed.  No  traces  were 
found  of  their  own  dead  or  wounded. 

As  I  have  said,  a  few  of  the  Indian  families  returned 
after  the  war,  and  the  Indians  remained  the  sole  proprie- 
tors of  the  land  for  upwards  of  forty  years,  or  until  the 
year  1718.  In  that  year  one  Elisha  Johnson  purchased 
a  tract  of  land  upon  condition  that  he  would  build  and 
support  a  bridge  over  each  branch  of  the  Blackstone 
river.  From  the  location  of  these  bridges,  which  he 
supported  till  1737,f  and  from  the  fact  that  Elisha 
Johnson  lived  in  Sutton,  I  infer  that  this  land  must  have 
been  in  the  region  of  Saundersville.  In  this  connection, 
I  may  as  well  mention  a  tradition  in  reference  to  the 
first  white  man  who  spent  a  winter  in  the  town.  I  have 
not  learned  either  the  name  of  the  man,  or  the  time  when 
he  was  here,  but  he  is  said  to  have  come  from  Marl- 
borough for  the  purpose  of  wintering  some  cattle  upon 
the  hay  which  had  been  cut  from  the  meadows  in  what 
is  known  as  "  The  Farms.''  J  His  hut  was  built  near 
the  present  residence  of  Mr.  Seth  J.  Axtell,  and  under 
the  shelter  of  a  large  rock  which  is  plainly  visible 
from  the  road.  And  now  that  I  am  speaking  of  the 
first  white  man  owning  land,  and  of  the  first  white  man 
spending   a   winter  here,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  know 


*  Hubbard's  Indian  Wars,  1st  ed.,  p.  45;  Transactions  and  Col.  of  Ameri- 
can Antiquarian  Society,  Vol.  II.,  p.  480;  Gookin's  Praying  Indians. 

f  Proprietors'  Record. 

X  This  district  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  was  originally  the  farm 
of  a  single  proprietor. 


12 

that  the  mother  of  the  first  white  child  born  here  lies 
in  the  old  burying  ground.  A  few  years  since  Capt. 
Benj.  Kingsbury  cleared  off  the  old  tombstone,  and 
learned  from  the  inscription  upon  it,  that  Mrs.  Martha 
Willard  was  the  wife  of  Maj.  Joseph  Willard,  and  the 
mother  of  the  first  white  child  born  in  town;  that  she 
died  June  3d,  1791,  in  the  1.00th  year  of  her  age,  leav- 
ing 12  children,  90  grandchildren,  22(3  great-grand- 
children, and  53  of  the  fifth  generation.  Some  of  the 
latter,  as  well  as  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  generations, 
and  probably  of  the  eighth,  are  still  living  in  town,  and 
more  are  scattered  elsewhere.  So  far  as  the  command  to 
"  be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth," 
is  concerned,  I  can  see  no  good  reason  why  Mrs. 
Martha  Willard,  and  some  of  her  descendants,  should 
not  be  justified  by  their  works. 

During  the  ten  years  succeeding  the  purchase  of  land 
by  Elisha  Johnson,  several  persons  were  allowed  to 
make  purchases,  so  that  at  the  end  of  that  period,  in 
1728,*  there  were  nine  English  families  resident  here. 
In  1724,  parties  living  chiefly  in  Marlborough,  Sud- 
bury, Stow,  and  Concord,  desiring  to  purchase  this 
"  Plantation,"  or  Indian  reserve,  petitioned  the  General 
Court  for  the  privilege  of  doing  so.  A  committee 
having  been  appointed  to  visit  the  town,  consult  the 
Indians,  and  ascertain  the  value  of  the  land,  reported 
that  the  Indians  were  willing  to  sell,  and  that  it  was  the 
opinion  of  the  committee  that  "the  place  was  capable  of 
being  made  a  small  town  or  village."  This  was  in  the 
month  of  May.  The  following  December  the  House  of 
Representatives  voted  to  grant  the  request  of  the  peti- 
tioners with  certain  restrictions.  The  Council,  however, 
refused  to  concur,  on  the  ground  that  the  price  was  too 

*  Proprietors'  Record. 


Jo 
O 

low.  The  next  May  "the  petitioners  came  back  again, 
arguing  the  importance  of  having  an  English  settlement 
here,  the  advantage  which  would  come  to  the  Indians  by 
means  of  preaching  and  a  school,  and  expressing  the  hope 
that  "  they  and  the  [ndian  proprietors  might,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  become  a  small  town  and  be  in  a  capacity 
to  support  a  gospel  minister."  Another  committee 
having  visited  the  town  and  found  that  "one-half  the 
land  is  good  but  very  stony;  and  the  other  half  pitch 
pine  and  shrub  plain,"  fixed  the  valuation,  with  the 
proposed  restrictions,  at  £2,500.  The  matter  seems  for 
some  cause  to  have  been  delayed  two  years,  but  in  17*27 
the  petition  was  granted.  As  I  have  said,  the  petitioners 
expressed  the  hope  that  in  time,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Indians,  they  could  support  preaching.  The  Legis- 
lature was  of  the  opinion  that,  at  the  price  paid  for 
the  land,  they  could  do  this  without  the  assistance  of 
the  Indians,  and  at  once,  and  so  the  petition  was 
granted  on  condition  *  that  they  should  build  a  meeting- 
house and  school-house,  and  settle  a  "  learned  orthodox 
minister,"  and  that  they  should  "constantly  maintain 
and  duly  support  a  minister  and  school-master  among 
them."  The  privileges  of  the  school  and  ministry  were  to 
be  shared  equally  with  the  whites  by  the  Indians  without 
charge.  Another  condition  was  that  they  should  make 
a  settlement  in  the  town  of  forty  English  families,  each 
of  whom  should  build  a  good  habitable  house,  and 
break  up  and  fence  at  least  four  acres  of  land  within 
three  years.  The  Indians  were  each  to  have  an  equal 
portion  of  the  land  with  the  proprietors,  and  also  one 
hundred  acres  to  be  appropriated  to  them  and  their 
heirs  forever.  The  proprietors  were  also  to  build  a  mill 
at  which  the  Indians  should  have  their  corn  ground  free 


*  Proprietors'  Record,  White's  copy,  p.  1. 


u 

of  toll,  and  to  set  apart  twenty  acres  of  land  for  school 
purposes.*  The  purchase  was  made  upon  these  condi- 
tions, and  the  deed  signed  March  10th,  1728.  At  once 
the  purchasers  set  about  fulfilling-  the  conditions.  In 
less  than  a  month,  on  April  9th,  a  meeting  of  the  pro- 
prietors was  held,  at  which  they  voted  first,  to  "  take  a 
survey  of  the  Plantation  of  Hassanamiseo,  *  *  to 
find  the  centre  plot  of  the  Plantation;"  and  second, 
"  that  the  meeting-house  should  be  set  up  at  or  upon  the 
centre  of  said  Plantation,  in  case  the  land  at  the  centre 
be  accommodable;  otherwise  at  the  nearest  accommo- 
clable  place  to  the  centre."  f  This  meeting  was  held  in 
Marlborough.  J  Ten  days  later,  and  just  one  month  after 
the  deed  was  signed,  on  April  19th,  the  proprietors 
met  on  the  ground  to  fix  the  location  for  the  meeting- 
house. Upon  repairing  in  a  body  to  the  spot  found  to 
be  the  centre,  which  is  about  thirty  rods  East  and  a 
little  to  the  North  of  the  centre  of  the  Common,  the 
place  was  found  not  to  be  "  accommodable,"  being  too 
moist.  Consequently  the  present  Common  was  fixed 
upon,  and  four  acres  were  set  off  for  a  school-house,  a 
pound,  a  meeting-house,  and  a  training  field.  The 
pound  was  in  the  South-east  corner  of  the  Common; 
the  school-house  was  separated  from  the  pound  by  a 
driveway,  and  the  meeting-house  was  in  the  centre, 
within  the  portion  now  enclosed.  Thus  it  was,  that  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  and  practice  of  the 
Fathers  a  century  before,  the  first  buildings  planned  for 
and  erected,  were  the  meeting-house  and  the  school- 
house.  Here,  where  we  stand  to-day,  these  grave  and 
sober,  earnest  and  godly  men  met,  not  under  these  trees 


*  This  land  was  located  just  East  of  the  Common,  and  was  sold  in  1783  and 
the  proceeds  formed  a  permanent  school  fund.  (Town  Records.  Mr.  Brig- 
hara's  Address,  p.  25).     f  Proprietors'  Record.     J  Ibid. 


15 

which  *  some  of  our  hands  have  helped  to  set,  but 
under  the  trees  of  the  primal  forest,  to  mark  the  spot 
where  God's  house  should  stand,  and,  perchance,  at  the 
same  time,  to  fix  the  location  of  the  school-house.  The 
house  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  the  house  for  train- 
ing the  intellect  of  man,  were  placed  side  by  side;  and 
so  religion  and  education  were  made  the  chief  corner 
stones  of  the  new  town,  as  they  were  of  all  New  Eng- 
land.f  Mr.  Wilson,  in  his  sermon,  says,  "We  seem  to  see 
them  now,  a  little  company  of  less  than  half  a  hundred, 
passing  about  among  the  tall  forest  trees,  which  stood  all 
over  these  places  that  are  now  covered  with  human 
habitations.  1 ney  were  asking  where  shall  be  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  Christian  temple,  before  yet  the 
worshippers  are  come  whose  prayers  and  solemn  praise 
are  to  consecrate  it.  Their  own  dwellings  are  not  yet 
to  be  seen.  The  stakes  are  not  set  to  mark  the  places 
where  they  are  soon  to  rise.  These  things  are  to  come 
after.  Their  Sabbath  home  first — their  week-day  tents 
in  good  time.  To-day  the  wants  of  the  soul — to-mor- 
row the  needs  of  the  body." 

The  meeting-house,  which  is  still  standing,  though 
removed  a  few  rods,  J  was  50  feet  by  40,  and  22  feet  in 
height  "  between  joynts,"  and  had  porches  one  story  and 
a  half  high  on  three  sides,  and  in  the  porches  were  stair- 
ways by  which  to  pass  to  the  galleries  on  each  side  of 
the  house.  Two  of  these  porches  are  ingeniously  put 
together  so  as  to  form  a  dwelling-house,  which  stands 
at  the  foot  of  Millbury  street,  the  last  house  on  the 
North  side.  The  great  feature  of  this  house,  especially 
in  the  eyes  of  children,  was  the  huge  sounding-board 
above  the  pulpit.     §  One  who  has  often  wondered  at  it, 

*  Common  was  fenced  and  trees  planted  in  1844.     f  Wilson's  Sermon,  p.  10. 
%  Proprietors'  Record,     White's  copy,  p.  14.     §  Capt.  Benj.  Kingsbury. 


1(5 

while  Ms  elders  were  absorbed  in  the  eloquence  of  the 
preacher,  or  soundly  sleeping,  says,  "to  a  boy  it  looked 
like  an  island  suspended  in  air.  To  him  it  was  an 
object  of  wonder  and  admiration,  and  in  spite  of  the 
wise  lessons  from  the  pulpit,  that  sounding-board,  with 
its  paintings,  its  panelling,  its  gorgeous  trimmings,  the 
brilliant  tassels  hanging  down  from  it,  was  the  great 
and  central  power  of  attraction.  And  during  service 
he  busied  himself  by  contemplating,  in  imagination,  the 
ruin  which  would  ensue  if  it  should  break  from  its 
moorings  and  come  down  with  a  crash  upon  the  head  of 
the  preacher!"  And  if  he  chanced  to  take  a  nap,  it 
would  have  been  easy  for  him  to  have  dreamed  that  this 
had  really  taken  place,  when,  at  the  close  of  the  prayer, 
the  seats  in  the  pews,  which  were  hung  with  hinges  and 
turned  up  during  the  prayer,  were  let  down  with  a 
crash,  which  it  is  said  could  be  heard  a  half-mile  away 
when  the  windows  were  open.  *  The  school-house  is 
also  well  remembered,  for  some  here  present  who  are 
yet  hardly  fifty  years  of  age,  began  their  education  in 
it,  and  played  at  recess  on  the  walls  of  the  old  pound. 

The  original  proprietors  were  40  in  number. f  The 
upland  was  divided  into  eighty  lots  of  forty  acres  each, 
to  which  was  added  an  equal  amount  of  meadow  land, 
and  these  portions  were  assigned  to  the  proprietors  by 
lot.  A  few  years  after,  more  land  was  divided  among 
them,  about  thirty  acres  to  each  proprietor.  J 

*  This  school-house  was  removed  from  the  Common  about  1832,  and  was 
used  by  Mr.  Geo.  Clapp  as  a  carpenter's  shop,  and  is  now  the  wood-shed  of  Mr. 
John  Whitney.  The  house  was  21  feet  by  16,  and  7  feet  "  between  joynts," 
and   was  completed   in    1731.      (Proprietors'   Record,    White's  copy,   p.   29). 

f  Proprietors'  Record. 

I  The  names  of  the  proprietors  areas  follows:  James  Watson,  Benjamin 
Willard,  Joseph  Willard,  Joseph  Rice,  Jonathan  Morse,  David  Harrington, 
Samuel  Biglo,  Samuel  Stow,  Zerrubabel  Eager,  Samuel  Brigham,  John 
Sherman,  John  Warren,  Nathan  Brigham,  Sen.,  Charles  Brigham,  Jeremiah 


17 

The  meeting-house  being  completed  in  1730,  steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  secure  the  "  learned  orthodox 
minister."*  A  Fast  was  appointed  and  kept,f  and  the 
next  day  after  it,  they  voted  to  call  Mr.  Solomon 
Prentice  of  Cambridge.  They  offered  Mr.  Prentice  a 
salary  of  "  ninety  pounds  of  passable  money,  or  bills  of 
public  credit  as  money  now  passes  from  men  to  men  or 
as  the  valuation  of  money  shall  be  from  time  to  time,  or 
as  said  money  rises  and  falls."  This  offer  was  afterwards 
increased  to  one  hundred  pounds, J  and  accepted  by 
Mr.  Prentice.  The  Congregational  Church  was  organ- 
ized, with  twenty  members,  on  the  29th  day  of  De- 
cember, 1731,  and  Mr.  Prentice  was  ordained  the  day 
following.  Thus,  in  almost  exactly  a  century  from  the 
time  when  the  first  white  men  cast  their  eyes  over  this 
region,  we  find  them  in  full  possession,  with  their  church 
organized,  their  pastor  settled,  and  their  school-house 
built.  The  covenant  §  of  the  church,  which  I  have  not 
time  to  quote  in  full,  was  of  that  simple,  broad  and 
unsectaiian  character  which  marked  the  covenants  of 
nearly  all  the  early  'New  England  churches,  and  to  which 
there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  return;  one  clause  in  this 
covenant  was,  "to  use  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  their 
platform,  whereby  they  might  discern  the  will  of  Christ, 
and  not  the  new  found  inventions  of  men." 


Barstow,  Elizabeth  Harrington,  Samuel  Chandler,  John  Hunt,  Joseph 
Merriam,  Eleazer  Flagg,  Jacob  Taylor,  Ebenezer  Wheeler,  Joseph  Barrett, 
Benjamin  Barrett,  Samuel  Hall,  Simon  Gates,  Nath.  Hapgood,  Phineas  Rice, 
Simon  Gates,  Jr.,  John  Collier,  William  Rogers,  William  Hogers,  Jr.,  Jona. 
Rice,  Richard  Tayler,  John  Jones,  Jonas  Houghton,  John  Davis,  Thomas 
Weeks,  Thomas  Pratt,  Nathl.  Wilder. 

The  names  of  the  Indians  giving  the  deed  are:  Ami  Printer,  Andrew 
Abraham,  Moses  Printer,  Ami  Printer,  Jr..  Peter  Muckamug  and  wife, 
Christian  Misco  and  Joshua  Misco.     (Suffolk  Deeds,  lib.  42,  folio  207). 

*  Proprietors'  Record,  White's  copy,  p.  42.      f  Ibid.,  p.  43.      J  Ibid.,  p.  44. 

§  Quoted  in  full  in  Mr.  Wilson's  Sermon,  pp.  12,  13. 

a 


18 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Prentice's  settlement  there  were 
only  nine  pews  in  the  meeting-house,  the  remaining 
space  being  filled  with  benches.  The  pews  were  large 
boxes,  almost  square,  4^  by  5  feet,  with  seats  on  three 
sides,  and  so  high  that  when  the  people  sat  down  they 
could  not  see  each  other,  but  could  only  see  the  preacher 
who  towered  above  them  in  his  high  pulpit,  and  poured 
the  gospel  down  into  these  "pits,"  as  they  were  not  inap- 
propriately called.  The  fashions  could  only  be  studied 
while  the  people  were  standing  during  prayer.  Mr. 
Prentice  *  filled  the  requirements  concerning  a  minister, 
being  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and  so  "learned," 
and  thoroughly  Calvinistic,  and  so  "orthodox."  He 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  deep  piety,  of  great  purity 
of  character,  of  a  kind  spirit,  and  yet  very  earnest  and 
independent,  as  well  as  somewhat  impulsive.  When 
Whitefield  was  in  this  country  Mr.  Prentice  at  once 
entered  heartily  into  the  new  movement,  and  it  is 
said  that  Whitefield  preached  in  his  pulpit.  Out  of  this 
movement,  or  perhaps  more  accurately,  out  of  the 
religious  controversy  which  followed  this  movement, 
trouble  arose  which  finally  resulted,  after  several  Coun- 
cils had  been  held,  in  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Prentice,  at 
the  end  of  a  pastorate  of  sixteen  years.f  The  house  in 
which  he  lived  is  still  standing.  It  is  located  on  Oak 
street,  and  is  owned  by  Mr.  James  B.  Stratton,  and  true 
to  its  first  purpose,  is  still  a  minister's  home,  being 
occupied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hussey.  After  leaving  Grafton 
he  preached  in  several  other  places  but  finally  returned 
and  died  here,  May  22d,  1773.  I  have  said  that  he  was 
"orthodox,"  and  yet  he  could  hardly  have  been  up  to 
the  standard  of  the  times  on  the  Sunday  question,  for  it 


*  Extended  account  of  Mr.  P.,  in  Genealogy  of  Prentice  Family,     f  Church 
Records;   Mr.  Brigham's  Address,  p.  27;  Mr.  Wilson's  Sermon,  p.  17. 


19 

is  said  *  that,  on  his  way  to  the  church  one  Sunday 
morning,  seeing  a  bear  in  a  tree,  he  returned  to  his 
house  for  his  gun,  and  shot  the  prowler.  He  may  have 
excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  "  deed  of 
necessity  or  mercy;"  but  if  he  was  a  good  shot,  as  he 
seems  to  have  been,  the  strength  of  the  temptation  alone 
would  seem  a  sufficient  excuse.  This  incident,  which  is 
well  vouched  for,  shows  so  much  good  sense,  and  such 
an  amiable  weakness,  that  I  have  never  been  inclined  to 
credit  the  tradition  that  he  refused  to  baptize  a  child 
because  it  was  born  on  Sunday. 

Mrs.  Prentice  seems  to  have  been  a  woman  of  learn- 
ing and  independence  of  thought  and  character.f  It  is 
said  that  "she  was  so  conversant  with  the  Bible  that  she 
could  repeat  any  part  of  it,  and  could  write  a  good  ser- 
mon." I  find  it  stated  that  when  Mr.  Prentice  "  courted  " 
her,  they  sat  on  a  trunk  of  a  tree  in  the  woods,  and  he 
proposed  to  her  in  the  language  of  Naomi  to  Ruth,  and 
she  accepted  him  with  Ruth's  reply.  But  the  course  of 
true  love  did  not  always  run  smooth.  In  her  independ- 
ence she  adopted  religious  views  of  her  own,  one  of 
which  was  that  immersion  was  true  baptism,  and  during 
the  absence  of  her  husband,  was  immersed.  On  his 
return  the  theological  war,  which  was  already  raging  in 
the  parish,  broke  out  in  the  household,  and  during  it,  as 
tradition  says,  he  exclaimed,  "Ah,  it's  water,  it's  water 
is  it  that  you  want  ?  Well,  you  shall  have  water,"  and 
he  dashed  a  pailful  over  her.  This  was  probably  but  a 
temporary  affair,  a  sudden  domestic  storm  which  soon 
passed  and  left  the  skies  clearer  and  brighter  than  ever. 
At  all  events,  in  his  will  he  provided  most  carefully  for 
her, J  making  provision  that  "  his  wife  Sarah  is  to  live 


Genealogy  of  Prentice  Family,     f  Ibid.     J  Ibid. 


20 

in  his  house,  and  have  all  his  household  goods  and 
furniture  and  indoor  movables;  his  riding  chair  and 
horse,  which  is  to  be  well  kept  for  her,  summer  and 
winter,  and  replaced  if  he  fails;  her  fire-wood  cut  at  her 
door;  as  much  cyder  as  she  shall  have  occasion  to  use 
in  the  house ;  full  and  free  liberty  to  put  up  a  friend's 
horse  or  horses,  to  hay  in  winter  and  grass  in  summer, 
when  they  come  to  visit  her,  &c. :  all  to  be  provided  by 
Solomon  for  her  sole  use  and  benefit  during  her  natural 
life.  £  1 6  to  be  paid  her  annually  by  my  sons."  Both 
sleep,  side  by  side,  in  the  old  burial  ground  here,  and 
doubtless  the  result  of  their  labors  in  these  early  years 
has  been  more  potent  upon  the  character  and  welfare  of 
this  town  than  any  of  us  can  know  or  think,  for  com- 
munities, as  well  as  individuals,  owe  much  to  early 
influences. 

But  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Prentice,  I  have  passed  one 
of  the  most  important  events  in  the  history  of  the  town 
— an  event  of  no  less  importance  than  its  birth.  When 
the  church  was  formed  and  the  pastor  settled,  there  was 
no  town,  nor  was  there  for  some  four  years  after.  *  In 
1734  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  petition 
to  the  General  Court  to  incorporate  it  as  a  town.  The 
petition  was  presented  in  April  of  the  next  year,  and 
was  granted,  the  bill  being  signed  by  Gov.  Belcher, 
April  18th  (O.  S.),  1735. 

I  have  had  considerable  curiosity  in  reference  to  the 
origin  of  the  present  name.  I  find  that  various  princi- 
ples governed  in  the  selection  of  names  for  the  new 
towns.  Early,  the  towns  were  named  after  places  in 
the  old  country — not  always  however  out  of  any  partic- 


*  Proprietors'  Record,  White's  copy,  p.  59.  A  committee  was  appointed 
in  1732  to  consider  the  propriety  of  such  a  step.  See  Proprietors'  Record, 
White's  copy,  p.  49. 


21 

ular  affection  for  the  places  thus  honored.  For  exam- 
ple,* the  battle  of  Worcester  was,  what  is  quaintly 
termed,  Cromwell's  "  crowning  mercy,"  and  so  the  name 
was  chosen  for  our  neighboring'  city  in  defiance  of  the 
king,  f  From  1724  a  custom  arose  of  complimenting 
distinguished  Englishmen- by  naming  towns  for  them. 
Up  J  to  1732  it  was  the  custom  for  the  incorporators  to 
select  the  names,  but  after  that  period  the  acts  of  incor- 
poration passed  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  in 
blank,  and  the  name  was  put  in  by  the  Governor.  So 
Grafton  is  indebted  to  Gov.  Belcher  for  its  name. 
Charles  Fitz  Roy,  Duke  of  Grafton,  was  a  member  of 
the  Privy  Council.  lie  was  a  grandson  of  Charles  II., 
and  held  many  high  offices.     He  died  May  6,  17  ~)7. 

The  act  of  incorporation  imposed  upon  the  inhabit- 
ants the  same  obligations  concerning  school  and  preach- 
ing free  of  charge  for  the  Indians,  which  the  origi- 
nal proprietors  had  been  under,  and  when  the  prop- 
erty was  conveyed  to  the  town  it  was  upon  condition 
that  the  town  should  relieve  the  proprietors  from  their 
obligations  to  the  Trustees  for  the  Indians. §  But  the 
bond  for  that  purpose  was  not  given  until  1773,  ||  or 
nearly  thirty-five  years  after  the  property  was  conveyed 
to  the  town.  There  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  this 
unaccountable  and  inexcusable  neglect  is  indicative  of 
the  loose  manner  in  which  the  business  relating  to  the 
Indians  was  generally  conducted.  Unfortunately  the 
record  in  relation  to  the  Indians  is  not  altogether  such 
as  we  could  desire,  though  perhaps  the  State  authorities 
are  more  at  fault  than  the  officers  of  the  town.  The 
price  paid  for  the  land,  £2,500,  was  held  by  trustees 


*  Essay  on  names  of  towns  in  Mass.,  by  Win.  Henry  Whitmoi'e,  p.  16. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  7.  J  Ibid.,  pp.  19,  20.  §  Proprietors'  Record,  White's  copy,  p.  91. 
||  Ibid.,  p.  141. 


22 

appointed  by  the  State,  in  trust  for  the  Indians.  Of 
this  sum,  which  the  State  received  in  gold  and  silver 
coin,  $1,330.89  were  lost  by  substituting  therefor 
depreciated  paper  currency  in  1745.  Between  the 
years  1772  and  1796,  the  trustees  having  permitted  one 
of  their  number  to  become  indebted  to  the  fund  on  his 
own  personal  obligation,  to  the  amount  of  $1,327. 19£, 
this  sum  was  lost.  And  then  prior  to  July,  1841,  the 
small  remnant  of  the  fund,  together  with  some  that  had 
been  added  by  sale  of  other  land,  was  invested  in  "  such 
securities  that  neither  principal  nor  interest  was  ever 
paid."  *  It  certainly  seems  as  if  the  descendants  of 
these  Indians,  a  few  of  whom  remain,  have  good 
ground  of  complaint  against  somebody. 

After  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  the  next  impor- 
tant events  in  its  history  are  connected  with  the 
f  French  war  in  the  years  1753  to  1762.  During  this 
war  the  inhabitants  exhibited  the  same  self-denying 
patriotism  which  has  been  characteristic  of  the  town 
in  all  its  subsequent  history.  When  news  came  of  the 
advance  of  Montcalm  upon  Fort  William  Henry,  Graf- 
ton and  Upton  at  once  turned  out  a  company,  of  which 
thirty-six  of  the  members  were  from  this  town.  During 
the  entire  war,  Grafton  bore  its  full  share  of  the  burden, 
as  will  be  readily  seen  in  the  fact  J  that,  out  of  a  popu- 
lation of  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  it  lost,  by  disease 
and  in  battle,  eighty  men, — more  than  one  in  ten  of 
its  entire  population.  At  different  times  this  town,  in 
common    with  the    State    generally,  had  in  the  service 


♦Report  to  Governor  and  Council  on  Indians,  under  act  of  April  0,  1859, 
p.  90.     (Senate  Doc.,  No.  90,  1SC1). 

f  For  extended  account  of  Grafton's  part  in  this  war,  see  Mr.  Brij>ham*s 
Address,  p.  Hi,  &c. 

J  Mr.  Brigham's  Address,  p.  17;  Manuscript  Records  of  Mrs.  Wheeler  in 
possession  of  Mr.  Joua.  D.  Wheeler. 


23 

a  large  portion  of  her  able-bodied  men.  Mr.  Brig-ham 
says,  and  doubtless  with  exact  truth,  that  this  French 
*  war  was  the  school  in  which  the  heroes  of  the  Revolu- 
tion were  educated;  and  that  without  the  preparatory 
discipline  which  it  afforded,  independence  would  not 
have  been  gained. 

The  only  other  incidents  of  importance  before  the 
Revolution,  were  the  changes  in  the  ministry,  and  these 
were  always  of  importance.  In  1750,  nearly  three 
years  after  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Prentice,  Mr.  Aaron 
Hutchinson  was  ordained  second  pastor  of  the  church. 
He  also  was  "learned,"  having  been  educated  at  Yale, 
and  "orthodox"  in  the  extreme.  Having  been  called 
to  sit  on  a  Council  at  Newbury,f  he  was  invited  to 
preach  on  an  intervening  Sabbath  at  Kewburyport. 
The  Council  had  been  called  on  account  of  the  sup- 
posed defection  of  the  pastor  from  Calvin,  and  Mr. 
Hutchinson's  sermon  was  aimed  at  this  heresy,  and  was 
probably  rather  more  "  orthodox"  than  any  sermons 
preached  in  these  days.  At  all  events,  it  resulted  in  a 
warm  controversy  carried  on  in  sermons  and  pamphlets. 
All  the  accounts  of  Mr.  Hutchinson  make  mention  of 
his  extraordinary  memory,  of  which  he  seems  to  have 
had  a  little  natural  pride  himself.  He  would  sometimes 
enter  the  pulpit  and  conduct  the  entire  service  without 
opening  a  book,  read  or  repeat  his  hymns,  naming  the 
verses  to  be  omitted,  and  in  the  same  manner  the  scrip- 
ture lessons,  shrewdly  adding  at  the  end  of  the  lesson, 
that  he  might  be  mistaken,  and  therefore  it  would  be 
well  for  his  hearers  to  look  the  passage  over  at  home 
after  service.  There  is  a  tradition  that  he  claimed  that 
he  could  re-write  the  entire  ISTew  Testament  if  it  should 


*  Mr.  Brighain's  Address,  p.  16.     f  Mr.  Wilson's  Sermon,  p.  22. 


21 

be  lost.  Besides  preaching,  he  combined  the  occupa- 
tions of  farmer  and  teacher.  He  fitted  young  men  for 
college;,  and  in  order  to  economize  time,  was  accustomed 
to  have  his  pupils  follow  him  at  the  plow  and  recite 
their  Greek  and  Latin.  All  accounts  of  him  contain 
hints  of  peculiarities.  There  are  many  traditions  indi- 
cating the  nature  of  these  peculiarities.  One  of  the 
least  objectionable  of  these  was  his  habit  of  riding 
from  door  to  door  in  his  parish  and  inquiring  the  bill  of 
fare  for  dinner  that  day,  and,  selecting  the  one  that  best 
suited  his  taste  or  fancy,  inviting  himself  to  partake. 
He  seems  not  to  have  been  possessed  of  the  most  refined 
table  manners-  often  appropriating  to  himself  the  larger 
portion  of  any  dish  which  pleased  him.  At  one  time, 
when  a  company  of  ministers  were  at  the  table,  one 
began  helping  himself  to  pudding  from  the  plate  of  Mr. 
Hutchinson,  and  when  remonstrance  was  made,  declared 
that  he  always  cut  from  the  largest  piece.  The  stu- 
dents who  boarded  in  his  house  are  said  not  to  have 
been  afflicted  with  any  of  the  diseases  which  result  from 
over-eating.  In  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  and 
additional  expense  of  having  his  neighbors'  swine 
respond  to  his  calls,  he  resorted  to  the  ingenious  and 
eminently  successful  artifice  of  calling  his  own  in  the 
Latin  language.  The  fact  that  Mr.  Hutchinson  remained 
pastor  of  the  church  twenty-two  years,  is  evidence  that 
he  must  have  been  possessed  of  worthy  qualities  of  mind 
and  character  which,  in  the  judgment  of  his  people,  far 
outweighed  that  which  was  disagreeable  in  his  conduct. 
After  he  was  dismissed  by  the  church,  according  to 
the  advice  of  a  council,  and  at  his  own  request,  the  town 
voted  not  to  concur  and  refused  to  release  him,  and  the 
town  never  did  by  vote  consent  to  his  dismission.  Many 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  the  church.     When 


25 

the  town  was  afterwards  asked  to  join  in  a  eall  to  his 
successor,  Mr.  Abner  Temple,  a  sort  of  wag-,  made  the 
objection  that  "the  church  has  not  informed  the  town 
what  is  become  of  their  old  minister."  This  Abner 
Temple  is  the  man,  who,  in  building  his  house,  had  the 
foundation  stones  dressed  on  both  sides,  and  in  reply  to 
a  question  as  to  his  reason  for  this  unnecessary  labor 
and  expense,  indignantly  asked  the  questioner,  if  he 
supposed  he  would  be  a  hypocrite? 

After  Mr.  Hutchinson's  dismission  in  17T1,  three 
years  passed  before  a  successor  was  found.  Until  within 
a  few  years  of  this  time,  there  had  been  but  one  church 
in  the  town.  In  Mr.  Prentice's  time  there  was  a  sect 
which  was  called  "  New  Lights,"  probably  from  the  fact 
that  they  claimed  to  possess  some  superior  inward 
illumination  in  reference  to  truth  or  duty.  These  were 
succeeded  by  a  strange  sect,  which  had  its  head-quarters 
in  this  town,  known  as  the  "  Live  Forevers."  I  am  told, 
upon  what  I  deem  excellent  authority,*  that  the  general 
impression  that  these  people  believed  that  they  would 
not  die,  is  a  mistake.  They  believed  that  they  would 
die  and  rise  again  after  three  days,  as  Christ  did. 
Consequently  when  the  leader  of  the  sect,  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Ireland,  died  here,  his  friends  and  followers 
kept  the  body  so  long  that  the  authorities  interfered  and 
ordered  his  burial.  Then  the  Shakers  were  accustomed 
for  a  time  to  hold  public  meetings  in  this  town.  In 
1707  the  Baptists  had  acquired  such  strength  here  and 
in  the  neighboring  towns,  that,  by  uniting  they  were 
able  to  form  a  church,  f  This  church  however  did  not 
have  a  long  life,  being  dropped  from  the  Warren  Associ- 
ation in  1788,  for  heresy  on  the  part  of  the  pastor  and  a 


*  Capt.  Benj.  Kingsbury,     f  Records  of  Warreu  Association. 
4 


2G 

majority  of  its  members.     The  present  Baptist  Church 
was  organized  in  1800. 

During  the  year  1774,  the  successor  of  Mr.  Hutchin- 
son, Rev.  Daniel  Grosvenor,  was  ordained  third  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  Church.  This  brings  us  to  the 
stirring  events  preceding  the  Revolution.  The  en- 
croachments of  the  British  Government  upon  the  rights 
of  the  colonists  had  created  great  dissatisfaction.  The 
inhabitants  of  Boston,  under  the  leadership  of  Samuel 
Adams,  had  voted  to  appoint  a  "  Committee1  of  Corres- 
pondence, to  consist  of  twenty-one  persons,  to  state 
the  rights  of  the  colonists,  and  of  this  province  in 
particular,  as  men,  as  christians,  and  as  subjects;  and  to 
communicate  and  publish  the  same  to  the  several  towns 
and  the  world,  as  the  sense  of  this  town,  with  the 
infringments  and  violations  thereof  that  have  been,  or 
from  time  to  time  may  be  made."  As  early  as  February 
1st,  1773,  Grafton,'55'  in  town  meeting,  responds  to  one  of 
the  letters  of  this  committee,  by  resolving  unanimously 
"that  they  would  defend  their  rights  at  all  hazards;  that 
they  would  not  suffer  their  property  to  be  taken  from 
them  in  an  unconstitutional  manner,  and  that  they  were 
ready  to  co-operate  with  their  brethren  in  Boston,  and 
other  places,  in  any  measures  to  obtain  a  redress  of 
grievances."  During  the  latter  part  of  this  same  year 
came  the  excitement  concerning  the  destruction  of  the 
tea  in  Boston  harbor.  A  town  meeting  was  held,  and 
a  committee  appointed  to  "look  into  a  letter  sent  from 
Boston."  Said  committee  reported  January  4,  1774.  as 
follows:  "The  town  of  Grafton,  taking  into  considera- 
tion the   unhappy  circumstances  that  this   country  are 


*The  statements  concerning  the  .action  of  the  town  at  various  times  before 
and  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  are  made  upon  the  authority  of  the  Town 
Records. 


27 

involved  in  at  this  crisis,  attempts  repeatedly  being 
made  infringing  upon  our  rights  and  privileges,  which 
we  consider  justly  alarming  to  all  the  true  friends  of 
our  happy  constitution,  which  hath  been  so  dearly 
purchased  and  which  we  esteem  to  be  onr  most  invalu- 
able interest  and  rights  as  Englishmen,  which  we  have 
ever  gloried  in;  more  particularly  at  the  glaring  injus- 
tice of  that  of  the  East  India  Company  being  allowed 
to  send  tea  to  America,  while  subject  to  a  duty  payable 
in  America,  which  we  view  as  subversive  of  our  rights 
as  christians,  as  subjects,  and  as  loyal  subjects  of  our 
most  gracious  King  George,  whose  name  and  person 
we  ever  desire  to  view  as  sacred.  Therefore,  Resolved, 
as  the  people  of  this  town,  that  any  one  individual,  or 
any  body  of  men,  that  shall  encourage,  aid  or  assist,  in 
importing  or  receiving  any  such  tea,  or  any  other  article 
while  subject  to  a  duty,  the  sole  purpose  whereof  is  to 
raise  money  to  appropriate  to  any  sordid  measure,  or 
any  use  whatever  contrary  to  our  just  rights  of  distribu- 
ting our  own  property,  wherewith  God  and  nature  hath 
made  us  free,  can  but  be  viewed  as  criminal  to  our 
country,  as  well  as  to  the  mother  state,  and  must  be  so 
viewed  by  us.  Resolved,  that  this  town  are  in  duty 
bound  to  join  with  and  assist  our  sister  towns  and 
colonies  in  this  our  common  cause,  so  as  we  may  be 
instrumental  under  God  of  handing  down  that  liberty 
to  our  posterity  which  hath  been  kept  so  long  inviolate 
and  preserved  by  our  worthy  ancestors."  Then  follows 
a  resolution  approving  the  stand  taken  by  Boston  and 
other  towns.  These  resolutions  certainly  have  a  ring- 
ing sound  which,  unless  the  hint  contained  in  them  is 
heeded  by  the  mother  country,  fortells  the  coming  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  three  years  later.  During  this  same 
year  the  dark  cloud  of  war  is  seen  rising  on  the  distant 


28 

horizon,  a  cloud  it  may  be,  almost  ridiculously  small,  no 
larger  than  one  field-piece  with  powder  and  bullets  to 
match,  and  yet  one  which  is  destined  to  spread  over  the 
entire  land,  and  hang*  long  and  low,  but  finally  to  be 
dissipated  by  the  glorious  sunlight  of  liberty.  The  first 
indication  of  arming  is  in  the  action  of  the  town,  Sep- 
tember 28,  1774,  when  the  record  says,  "  Voted  to  pro- 
cure a  good  field-piece,  called  a  six-pounder."  "  By  vote 
chose  ^Nathaniel  Sherman  to  procure  a  supply  of  bullets 
and  shot  to  load  said  field-piece."  "  By  vote  chose 
Thomas  Davidson  to  command  said  field-piece."  "  Put 
to  vote  to  see  if  the  town  will  choose  a  committee  to 
provide  for  the  soldiers  of  Grafton  in  case  they  are 
called  to  battle.  Passed  in  the  affirmative."  These 
are  the  mutterings  of  war  which  were  heard  more  than 
six  months  before  the  battle  of  Lexington.  The  collect- 
ors of  taxes  were  directed  to  pay  none  of  their  receipts 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Province.  The  following  Feb- 
ruary, the  22nd,  it  was  "  voted  to  pay  minute  men  for 
the  time  in  training  in  learning  the  military  art." 
Action  was  also  taken  about  this  time  to  encourage 
home  manufactures,  and  so  become  independent  of 
England.  March  6th,  1775,  it  wTas  "  Voted  to  recom- 
mend to  each  inhabitant  of  this  town  to  be  careful  to 
save  their  rags  suitable  for  ye  paper  manufactory;  that 
they  endeavor  to  their  utmost  to  supply  Henry  Prentice 
and  Timothy  Fletcher,  collectors  of  ye  same;  and  in 
general  support  our  own  manufactories  by  preferring 
them  to  foreign  ones."  The  crisis  approaches.  A  war- 
rant for  a  town  meeting  is  issued  on  April  1 7,  the  meet- 
ing to  be  held  the  21th.  It  was  customary  to  have 
these  meetings  called  by  the  constable,  who  notified  each 
voter  in  the  town.  In  this  instance  the  constable  made 
return  that  he  had  notified  all  but  two  or  three,  "which 


29 

by  reason   of  the  special   alarm   then   existing-   he   was 
prevented  opportunity  to  complete/' 

The  eventful  19th  of  April  came.  Already  the  little 
community,  in  common  with  all  others  in  the  State,  was 
in  a  condition  of  feverish  anxiety,  in  hourly  expectation 
of  a  call  to  arms.  About  noon  a  horseman  dashes 
into  town  bringing  intelligence  that  the  British  troops 
are  marching  on  Concord  to  destroy  the  military 
stores  accumulated  there.  Having  delivered  his  mes- 
sage, and  perchance  exchanged  his  horse  for  a  fresh 
one,  he  dashes  on  to  the  next  town,  at  every  isolated 
home  on  the  way,  without  stopping,  declaring  the  fear- 
ful news  which  banishes  every  lingering  hope  of  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  steadily  increasing  troubles. 
There  is  "  mustering  in  hot  haste."  Messengers  fly 
over  the  town;  the  people  come  flocking  to  the  Com- 
mon. Men,  women,  children  are  there.  There  are  pale 
faces,  and  tearful  eyes,  but  none  waver.  Bold  defiance 
speaks  in  eye,  tone,  gesture  and  deed.  Ere  the  sun 
goes  down  nearly  every  able-bodied  man  in  the  town, 
from  the  youth  in  earliest  manhood  to  the  gray  headed 
patriarch,  is  on  the  march  to  Cambridge.  Nearly  a 
hundred  are  there  of  them.  Among  the  number  and 
marching  side  by  side  in  the  ranks  with  the  common 
soldier,  and  bearing  his  musket,  was  the  young  and 
popular  pastor  of  the  church  who  had  been  ordained 
just  six  months  that  very  day.  So  early  in  the  history 
of  our  town  did  religion  and  politics,  religion  and 
patriotism,  go  hand  in  hand,  the  preacher  himself  declar- 
ing his  faith  by  his  works.  *  Says  Mi'.  Brigham,  in 
alluding  to  this  day,  "  To  those  of  us  who  have  never 
witnessed  the  horrors  of  war,  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
realize,    even   in    imagination,    the    scene    which    their 

*  Mr.  Brig-ham's  Address,  p.  20. 


30 

departure  presented."  Unfortunately,  it  is  only  too 
easy  for  us  who  have  been  familiar  with  the  horrors  of 
war,  to  realize,  to  its  fullest  extent,  the  experiences  of 
that  day.  May  God  forbid  that  he  who  comes  after  me 
fifty-nine  years  hence,  shall  be  able  to  speak  to  a  people 
whose  experience  tells  them  aught  of  war  and  its 
horrors.  Hut  knowing  how  yourselves,  your  sons,  and 
husbands,  and  brothers  marched  to  the  conflict  of  arms, 
you  have  a  bond  of  sympathy  with  the  patriot  soldiers, 
parents,  wives  and  sisters  of  1775. 

In-om  this  time,  the  records  of  the  town  bear  a  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  those  which  have  been  made  in  our 
day.  Committees  are  appointed  to  "deal  out  their  fam- 
ily blankets  to  supply  the  soldiers."  It  is  voted  "to 
order  the  town  treasurer  to  give  notes  upon  interest,  at 
twenty  pounds  each  man,  to  the  number  of  twenty-four 
men,  that  shall  enlist  for  the  expedition  for  New  York," 
also  "  to  give  twenty  pounds  to  each  man  who  shall  enlist 
for  the  northern  expedition."  A  vote  is  passed  "to  give 
thirty  pounds  to  each  man  that  shall  enlist  into  the  army 
for  three  years  or  the  war."  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  collect  money  and  clothing  for  the  continental  soldiers, 
and  the  report  of  said  committee,  with  list  of  donors, 
and  of  amounts  and  articles  donated,  follows.  The  last 
warrant  issued  in  the  name  of  his  majesty,  was  that  of 
April  17,  1775,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  A 
month  later  the  warrant  was  "  in  pursuant  of  a  resolve 
of  congress,"  and  in  May,  1770,  it  was  "in  the  name  of 
the  Government  and  people  of  Massachusetts  Bay." 
June  7,  177(5,  it  was  voted  to  *" comply  with  the  resolve 


*  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  > 

May  10,  1776.  S 

Resolved,  ;is  the  opinion  of  this  house,  that  the  inhabitants  of  each  town 
in  this  colony  ought,  in  full  meeting  warned  for  that  purpose,  to  advise  the 
person  or  persons  who  shall  be  chosen  to  represent  them  in  the  next  General 


31 

of  the  House  of  Representatives  concerning  independ- 
ence from  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain."  This  was 
only  a  month  before  the  declaration  of  independence. 
The  articles  of  confederation  were  assented  to  January 
23,  1778.  In  April  of  that  same  year  the  town  refused, 
by  a  vote  of  sixty-six  to  one,  to  approve  of  a  state 
constitution  submitted  by  the  Legislature.  *The  same 
constitution  was  rejected  in  the  State  by  a  vote  of 
10,000  to  2,000;  Boston  voting  against  it  unanimously. 

We  find  traces  of  disaffection  however  in  these  days, 
and,  if  Grafton  did  not  have  actual  tories,  there  were 
some  suspected  characters.  In  April,  1777,  a  member 
of  the  committee  to  hire  men  for  service  in  the  Continen- 
tal army,  was  dismissed  by  vote  of  the  town,  because 
"not  firm  and  friendly  to  this  state."  The  following 
July  however,  he  was  restored  to  his  position  upon  his 
own  petition.  They  also  had  their  financial  troubles, 
and  tried  the  ever  popular  and  never  successful  experi- 
ment of  seeking  relief  in  legislation.  An  act  was  passed 
to  "prevent  monopoly  and  oppression,"  in  other  words 
to  keep  down  prices,  which,  as  demand  increased  and 
production  diminished,  and  paper  money  fluctuated  in 
value,  manifested  a  strong  upward  tendency.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  act,  the  selectmen  and  a  committee, 
f  "met  to  affix  and  settle  the  price"  of  all  articles  in 
general  use.  The  extent  to  which  this  was  carried,  is 
seen,  e.  g.  in  this  record,  "  Phlip,  made  of  the  best  New 
England  rum  at  8d.  per  mug,  and  made  from  West 
India  nun  lOd."    "A  meal  of  victuals  of  their  best  kind, 


Court,  whether  that,  if  the  honorable  congress  should,  for  the  safety  of  the 
said  colonies,  declare  them  independent  of  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain, 
they,  the  said  inhabitants,  will  solemnly  engage,  with  their  lives  and  fortunes, 
to  support  the  Congress  in  the  measure.  SAMUEL  FREEMAN,  Speaker. 
(Journal  of  the  House  of  Representatives. — Note). 
♦Barry's  History  of  Mass.,  3d  period,  p.  175.     f  See  Appendix. 


32 

not  to  exceed  Is.  6d.,  and  common  kind  8d."  The  list 
embraces  all  kinds  of  farm  produce;  all  kinds  of  labor; 
hotel  bills;  in  fact,  it  was  evident!}7  intended  to  cover 
whatever  was  in  any  way  in  the  market.  Their  financial 
troubles  are  manifest  also  in  the  expedients  resorted  to 
in  settling  the  bounties  of  the  soldiers;  but  I  must  not 
dwell  upon  this  period. 

Although  victory  crowned  our  arms,  and  peace  was 
finally  established  upon  the  basis  of  perfect  political 
independence  of  the  mother  country,  yet  the  trials  were 
not  over.  Dark  days  followed.  The  debt  was  enor- 
mous, the  currency  was  depreciated,  industry  was 
paralyzed,  and  property  was  sacrificed.  In  our  own 
State  a  powerful  party  arose  which  complained  that  the 
governor's  salary  was  too  high,  the  senate  aristocratic, 
the  congress  extortionate,  and  taxes  too  burdensome  to 
bear;  they  demanded  an  issue  of  paper  money,  and  the 
removal  of  the  General  Court  from  Boston.  This  party 
finally  resorted  to  arms  and  the  movement  is  known 
as  "  Shays'  Rebellion."'  The  insurgents  prevented  the 
holding  of  courts  in  Worcester  and  Springfield,  and 
attempted  to  capture  the  arsenal  at  the  latter  place. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  town  seem  to  have  sympathized 
with  this  movement,  and  probably  some  of  them 
actually  took  up  arms.  At  all  events,  a  company  of 
Shays'  men,  inarching  through  the  town,  were  enter- 
tained with  supper  and  breakfast  by  Col.  Jonathan 
Wheeler.  That  this  sympathy  was  general  appears 
from  the  instructions  given  to  their  representatives  to  the 
General  Court  the  next  year  after  the  rebellion  was 
quelled,  which  are  in  favor  of  almost  every  change 
urged  by  the  insurgents.  In  these  instructions,  direc- 
tion is  given  to  the  representative  "to  use  his  utmost 
exertion  to  obtain  a  general  pardon  for  all  that  aided  or 


33 

assisted,  or  have  taken  up  arms,  in  what  the  Governor 
and  General  Court  styled  rebellion  &c." 

This  crisis  safely  passed,  the  town,  in  common  with 
the  country  in  general,  gradually  entered  upon  a  career 
of  growth  and  prosperity.  *  The  population,  which,  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  war,  was  between  800  and  900, 
had  increased,  in  1810,  to  916;  in  1S20,  to  1,15-1;  in 
1830,  to  1,889;  and  in  1835,  to  3,036.f  Manufactories 
sprung  up  along  the  river  courses,  and  important  and 
nourishing  villages  were  the  result.  In  1835  the  town, 
then  evidently  experiencing  great  prosperity  and  rapid 
increase,  celebrated  the  completion  of  the  first  century 
of  its  history,  and  a  most  admirable  and  exhaustive 
historical  address  was  delivered  by  Hon.  William  Brig- 
ham,  an  honored  son  of  the  town.  Meanwhile  another 
church,  the  Unitarian,  had  been  organized.  This  was 
in  the  year  1832,  August  5th. 

Nothing  of  particular  importance  occurred  till  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861;  audi  hardly 
need  detain  you  to  tell  the  part  that  Grafton  played  in 
that  terrible  conflict,  for  there  are  many  here  present 
who,  with  old  Aeneas  can  in  truth  say:  "  Quaeque  ipse 
miserrima  vidi,  et  quorum  pars  magna  fid"  What 
scenes  of  misery  I  saw  myself  and  those  in  which  I 
bore  a  principal  part. 


*In    1765, 

houses    109, 

families    109, 

males   371,  females   371, 

colored 

21; 

total  763. 

whites. 

COLORED. 

WHITES. 

COLORED, 

In  1776, 

861 

In  1840,                    2,943 

19 

1790, 

872 

1850,                     3,904 

12 

1800, 

985 

18 

1860,                     4,317 

16 

1810, 

946 

12 

1870,                    4,594 

1820, 

1,154 

12 

1875,                    4,442 

1830, 

1,889 

16 

18 

75,  number 

■  of  houses  716,  number  of  families  951. 

t  Address 

of 

Mr.  Brighara,  Appendix 

I. 

34 

You  remember  well  the  19th  of  April,  1861 —  a  day  as 
memorable  for  the  pain  it  brought,  and  for  the  patriot- 
ism it  evoked,  as  the  19th  of  April,  1775;  a  day,  the 
deeds  of  which  called  forth  proof  that  the  sons  then 
resident  in  Grafton,  were  worthy  sons  of  worthy  sires, 
—  proof  of  which  was  rolled  up  day  after  day,  month 
after  month,  and  year  after  year,  during  those  terrible 
five  years.  ~Not  as  in  1775,  from  lips  of  a  horseman 
dashing  into  town  with  foaming  steed  and  clattering 
hoofs,  came  the  tidings  of  war  actually  begun ;  but  on 
the  morning  of  April  20th,  over  the  silent  wires  Hashed 
the  news  that  the  sons  of  Massachusetts,  who  had 
promptly  responded  to  the  nation's  call  for  defenders, 
had  been  shot  down,  the  day  before,  in  the  streets  of 
Baltimore.  Again  flew  messengers  over  the  town. 
Again  from  all  quarters  came  flocking  the  citizens  to 
consult  concerning  the  public  safety.  You  remember 
that  meeting,  in  the  hall,  held  at  4  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  presided  over  by  one  of  Grafton's  worthiest 
and  wisest  sons,  then  in  all  the  vigor  of  mature  man- 
hood, and  since  gone  to  his  rest,  Col.  Charles  Brigham. 
Some  of  you  will  never  forget  the  earnest  words  he 
uttered,  in  a  voice  tremulous  with  emotion;  nor  how 
afterwards,  you  came  to  wonder  at  the  exact  compre- 
hension which  he  seemed  to  have  of  the  situation,  and 
of  what  was  to  come.  On  the  platform  with  him  sat 
that  veteran  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  Mi*.  Benjamin 
Smith,  then  in  his  98th  year,,  the  one  surviving  link 
which  united  April  19,  1775,  to  April  19,  1861.  The 
intense  solemnity  and  earnestness  of  that  meeting  are 
deeply  graven  on  the  memories  of  very  many,  perhaps 
the  most  of  you.  Steps  were  taken  to  form  a  company, 
and  a  full  one  was  organized  that  very  day.  A  legal 
meeting    of   the    town   was    called   at   the   earliest    day 


35 

possible,  April  29th,  the  warrant  for  it  being  issued  the 
same  evening.  You  remember  well  the  almost  wild 
enthusiasm  of  that  meeting;  how  it  was  voted  to  appro- 
priate $4,000,  as  a  fund  for  organizing  the  company; 
and  that  each  member  should  receive  one  dollar  per 
day  while  engaged  in  drilling,  and,  when  called  into 
active  service,  was  to  receive  from  the  town  the  same 
monthly  pay  as  from  the  government.  This  latter 
provision  could  not  be  carried  out  on  account  of  legal 
objections,  but  the  vote  shows  the  liberality,  and  patriot- 
ism, and  enthusiasm  of  the  citizens.  The  company, 
which  was  immediately  formed,  became  Company  G  of 
the  Fifteenth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers, 
and  was  sent  to  "  Camp  Scott,"  in  Worcester.  You 
remember  well — it  is  impossible  to  forget — the  scenes 
presented  in  two  of  these  churches,  the  Sunday  before 
the  company  departed,  when  it  marched  in  a  body  into 
them  to  listen  to  sermons  addressed  particularly  to 
the  members.  In  the  morning,  the  soldiers'  true 
friend,  and  afterwards  companion,  Rev.  Mr.  Scandlin, 
addressed  them  in  the  Unitarian  Church;  and  what  an 
impression  was  made,  as,  in  the  midst  of  a  terrible 
thunder  and  hail  storm,  he  gave  out  that  prophetic  and 
cheering  hymn,  reading  to  the  music  of  rattling  hail 
and  rolling  thunder,  the  following  words: 

♦'Through  night  to  light!  And  though  to  mortal  eyes 

Creation's  face  a  pall  of  horror  wear, 
Good  cheer !  good  cheer !  The  gloom  of  midnight  flies  : 

Soon  shall  a  sunrise  follow,  mild  and  fair. 
Through  storm  to  calm!  And  though  his  thunder-car 

The  rumbling  tempest  drives  through  earth  and  sky, 
Good  cheer !  good  cheer !  The  elemental  war 

Tells  that  a  blessed,  healing  hour  is  nigh." 

In  the  afternoon,  he  who  ministered  in  the  pulpit  of 
the  Congregational  Church  for  upwards  of  thirty  years, 


36 

and  whose  eloquence  there  are  none  to  question,  Rev. 
Mr.  Biscoe,  delivered  to  "  the  boys  "  a  most  eloquent 
and  impressive  sermon  from  the  text  "  Quit  you  like 
men;  be  strong."  Perchance  you  can  now  see  the  little 
girls,  like  white  robed  angels,  moving  among  that  band 
of  soldiers  after  the  sermon,  and  giving  to  each  member 
a  copy  of  God's  Word  of  Truth.  What  stories  these 
Bibles  would  tell  if  now  gathered  and  permitted  to 
speak  !  And  you  cannot  have  forgotten  how,  just 
before  starting,  solemn  religious  services  were  held 
upon  the  common,  nor  that  the  company  was  then 
escorted  to  Worcester  by  the  selectmen  and  citizens,  on 
horseback  and  in  carriages.  That  parting  at  the  camp, 
when  the  soldier-bo}Ts  were  left  behind,  and  loving  and 
honoring  relatives  and  friends  returned  home  to  begin 
the  painful  watch  for  tidings,  who,  but  they  who  were 
there  can  tell  its  pain,  its  hopes,  its  fears  ?  Cursed  be 
war,  and  thrice  cursed  be  the  evil  cause  that  creates  the 
necessity  for  it!  From  that  early  day  to, the  end  of  the 
fearful  strife, —  and  many  were  the  dark  and  disheart- 
ening days  when  evil  tidings  came, —  Grafton  never 
faltered  in  her  patriotic  devotion.  Only  one  less  than  a 
round  four  hundred  men,  out  of  a  population  of  about 
four  thousand,  did  she  send  to  the  war,  a  number  larger 
by  nearly  half  a  hundred  than  all  demands  upon  her.. 
On  the  base  of  yonder  beautiful  monument  are  in- 
scribed, in  letters  which  the  patriots  coming  after  us 
for  centuries  will  keep  clear  and  legible,  the  names  of 
the  fifty-nine  victims  whom  Grafton  gave — rather  who 
gave  themselves — for  the  nation's  life.  These  names 
will  be  read  by  children,  and  children's  children,  for 
generation  after  generation;  and,  as  they  are  read, 
voices  will  come  from  the  scattered  graves  of  the  dead, 
bidding  those  who  read,  to  love,  to  honor,  to  cherish,  to 


37 

defend  the   institutions  for  which  they  laid  down  their 
lives. 

But  while  men  constitute  the  most  valued  treasures 
given  to  the  nation,  yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
Grafton  was  generous  with  material  aid  also  With  a 
valuation  of  property  amounting  to.  little  more  than  a 
million  and  a  half  dollars,  she  paid,  for  war  purposes, 
the  sum  of  thirty-nine  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  exclusive  of  State  aid.  Bearing  in  mind  that, 
in  addition  to  its  other  burdens  of  taxation,  Grafton 
freely  poured  out  of  its  material  treasures  nearly  forty 
thousand  dollars  during  the  war,  and  gave  one  in  ten  of 
her  entire  population  to  stand  in  the  ranks  of  the  army, 
and  generously  surpassed  all  demands  upon  her  for  men, 
all  will  agree  that  it  was  a  well  earned  compliment  which 
Governor  Bullock  paid  the  town,  on  the  day  when  that 
monument  was  dedicated,  as  he  said,  *"I  feel  bound  in 
truth  and  justice,  to  say  that  no  other  town  appeal's  to 
have  contributed  to  the  late  war  a  larger  proportion 
than  yours  of  its  treasures  and  its  men."  And  to-day, 
pointing  your  eyes  to  that  beautiful  monument,  I  say  to 
you  in  the  words  of  the  beloved  and  honored  Scandlin,  a 
worthy  successor  in  the  ministry  of  the  patriotic  Grosve- 
nor  of  1775,  f  "I  rejoice  in  the  public  spirit  that  could 
rise  above  the  pressure  of  taxes  and  the  burden  of  debt 
—  faithful  to  its  plighted  word  —  true  to  those  who  have 
honored  the  town  by  deeds  of  daring,  by  the  offering  of 
life."  In  behalf  of  the  hundreds  of  Grafton's  sons, 
whose  homes  are  no  longer  on  your  grand  and  beautiful 
hills,  nor  in  your  deep  and  fertile  valleys,  I  say,  in  all 
honesty,  and  with  the  deepest  fervor,  we  are  proud  of 
your  record  during  the  war,  and  in  our  homes  in  other 
villages  and  cities,  and  on  western  prairies,  we  will  teach 

*  The  Worcester  Daily  Spy,  October  14th,  1867.     f  Ibid. 


38 

our  children  to  honor  the  place  of  their  fathers'  nativity 
because  it  has  honored  itself  by  a  record  so  grand  and 
glorious ! 

And  speaking  of  these  absent  sons  reminds  me  to 
say  in  closing,  that  it  is  not  a  matter  of  special  regret, 
much  less  of  reproach,  that  latterly  your  increase  has 
not  been  more  rapid.  It  is  true  that  forty  years  from 
1835  have  added  only  about  fourteen  hundred  to  your 
population.  In  this  country  where  thriving  towns  and 
even  large  cities  leap  into  commanding  positions  in  a 
few  years,  this  growth  seems  slow.  But,  mark  you, 
growth  does  not  necessarily  indicate  or  measure  power. 
"  There  is  that  scattereth  and  yet  increaseth."  Many  a 
New  England  town,  even  decreasing  in  population,  or 
at  a  stand-still,  is  exerting  a  greater  power  through  its 
very  decrease,  or  lack  of  increase,  than  tenfold  larger 
towns  and  cities  are  exerting  by  their  boasted  growth. 
Go  where  you  will  in  this  broad  land,  East  or  West, 
North  or  South,  and  where  you  find,  to  an  unusual 
degree,  thrift,  and  energy,  and  enterprise  in  business, 
you  are  very  sure  to  find  New  England  brains  behind 
them.  Go  into  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  older 
portions  of  the  country,  and  of  the  new,  and  you  find 
that  the  majority  of  the  founders,  supporters,  and 
instructors  of  these  institutions  of  learning  are  sons  of 
New  England.  Go  into  the  churches,  and  among 
clergy  and  laity,  you  trace  constantly  the  power  of 
New  England.  And  whence  came  these  scattered 
thousands  of  New  England  business  men,  educators, 
preachers,  and  christian  philanthropists  ?  They  came 
from  the  country  towns  of  New  England,  and  these 
towns  are  checked  in  their  growth  because  their  sons 
are  elsewhere  exerting  their  power.  These  towns  give 
their  offspring  active  brains,  physical  strength,  educa- 


39 

tion,  habits  of  industry  and  frugality,  and  then  send 
them  forth  to  use  these  sources  of  power  in  moulding- 
other  communities.  It  is  true  that  a  nest  forsaken  of 
its  young,  is  a  dreary  thing  to  look  at,  and  yet  these 
forsaken  nests,  so  many  of  which  it  is  easy  to  find  at 
this  season  of  the  year,  tell  of  myriads  of  trees  in 
forest,  and  field,  and  around  the  shaded  home,  and 
along  the  highway  and  by-way,  which  are  bright  and 
beautiful  with  the  plumage  of  wings  which  have  borne 
the  young  hence  ;  they  tell  also  of  the  rich  melody  of 
song  which  swells,  and  fills  the  air  miles  and  miles  away. 
So,  too,  the  garden,  gone  or  going  to  seed,  may  present 
an  unsightly  aspect,  when  contrasted  with  that  which 
offers  its  ripening  fruit  and  vegetable  for  present  use. 
And  yet,  how  much  richer  in  promise  is  the  former  than 
the  latter,  when  we  remember  that  these  seeds  make 
sure,  or  possible,  a  hundred  other  gardens  rich  in  the 
best  of  their  kind  !  It  is  wise  to  honor  the  seed-bed 
with  the  greatest  care.  Better,  and  more  worthy  of 
pride  and  care,  the  New  England  town  kept  weak  by 
scattering  its  sons  and  daughters  well  trained  in  thrift, 
intellectual  acquirements,  moral  and  religious  principles, 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  other  towns  like  itself,  than  the 
"  smart  village,"  or  thriving  city,  that  puts  its  sons  into 
the  money-making  treadmills  at  home,  or  pets  and 
pampers  them  in  idle  effeminacy.  Who  cares  for  the 
growth  of  New  England  so  long  as  it  can  continue  to 
give  principles,  and  institutions,  and  men  to  the  nation  ? 
Who  cares  for  the  growth  of  New  England  if  the 
entire  nation  becomes  New  Englandized  ? 

But  though  I  speak  in  this  strain,  it  is  not  because  I 
see  about  me  here  evidences  of  decay;  though  Grafton 
has  not  rushed  forward  as  rapidly  as  some  towns,  yet 
she  has  made  constant  and  healthful  progress.     She  has 


40 

increased  the  number  of  her  inhabitants,  and  on  all 
bands,  in  public  improvements,  and  in  the  air  of  comfort 
and  taste  which  pervades  her  homes,  both  in  the  villages 
and  on  the  farms,  there  is  abundant  and  pleasing  evi- 
dence of  thrift  and  progress.  *  Mr.  Brigham,  in  his 
address,  speaking  of  the  evidences  of  progress,  asks 
what  our  ancestors  would  have  thought  had  they  been 
told,  among  other  things,  "that  across  the  northern 
section  of  the  town  iron  rails  would  be  laid,  over  which 
would  pass  with  the  rapidity  of  the  wind,  a  wonderful 
machine,  belching  forth  lire  and  smoke,  and  moving  by 
an  internal  power,  dragging  in  its  train  car  after  car,  load 
after  load,  and  never  tiring  ?  "  And  now  we  ask,  what 
would  he  have  thought  and  those  to  whom  he  spoke,  if 
they  had  been  told  that,  in  forty  years,  besides  an  addi- 
tional set  of  iron  rails  across  another  section  of  this 
town,  there  would  be  a  set  laid  to  the  very  summit  of 
this  hill,  and  that  many  times  each  day,  that  "  wonderful 
machine"  would  come  puffing  and  blowing  and  scream- 
ing across  the  pastures  up  the  hill  ?  AVhat  would  he 
have  thought  if  told  that,  when,  in  forty-one  yea:s,  the 
town  would  desire  to  celebrate  the  Centennial  of  the 
nation,  it  would  send  for  one  of  its  sons  a  thousand 
miles  distant,  and  that  he  would  be  able  to  leave  his 
home  early  Monday  morning  and  be  here  on  Tuesday  in 
ample  time  for  the  celebration  ?  What  would  he  have 
thought  if  told  that,  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  three 
thousand  miles,  away,  there  would  spring  up,  within 
that  forty  years,  one  of  the  richest,  and  most  populous 
and  powerful  States  of  the  Union  ;  and  that,  within 
these  forty  years,  also,  the  iron  rails  should  span  all  the 
distance  thither,  and  that,  on  this  Centennial  year,  one 
of  these  trains  should  fly  across  the  continent  in  three 

*  Mr.  Brighara's  Address,  p.  32. 


41 

and  a  half  days?  What  would  he  have  thought,  if 
told  that  the  means  of  communication  would  be  such 
that  the  politician  might  sit  in  his  own  private  office  in 
Washington,  and  direct,  each  moment,  the  action  of  his 
friends  in  a  convention  a  thousand  miles  away  ?  That 
the  editor  in  New  York  might  write  his  editorials  after 
the  close  of  the  public  activities  of  the  day,  and  have 
them  all  printed  before  daylight  in  Cincinnati.  What, 
if  told  that,  in  case  the  God  of  Day  were  to  turn  gossip, 
and  attempt  to  tell  upon  his  arrival  over  New  York, 
what  he  saw  or  heard  on  rising  over  England,  the  news- 
paper reporters  would  cut  him  short  with  the  assurance 
that  they  had  heard  of  that  five  hours  before  ?*  What,  if 
told  that  the  great  city  in  that  new  and  far-off  Western 
State,  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  began  each  day's 
business  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  business 
transacted  to  the  close  of  business  hours  that  same  day 
in  London  ? 

Bat  I  may  not  detain  you  longer  with  these  curious 
questions.  As  old  Galileo  said  of  the  world,  so  say  we, 
"  It  does  move,"  and  that  too  in  more  senses  than 
Galileo  intended,  and  in  more  ways  than  I  have  time  to 
recall.  In  Science,  in  Art,  in  Philosophy,  in  practical 
morality,  and  in  religion,  there  have  been,  at  least  in 
certain  directions,  leaps  forward,  almost  as  unexpected 
and  as  wonderful,  as  in  the  methods  of  transportation 
and  communication  of  which  I  have  been  speaking. 

And  this  occasion  especially  reminds  us  that  in  gov- 
ernment too  there  has  been  progress.  The  experiment 
of  a  government  by  the  people  is  an  assured  success. 
Through  all  the  ever-changing  and  trying  scenes  of  a 
hundred  years;  through  the  dangers  of  war,  in  repelling 

*  Actual  feats  of  travel,    communication,    and   newspaper   enterprise   per- 
formed during  the  year  1876. 
6 


42 

foes  from  without,  and  in  the  more  difficult  and  danger- 
ous   work    of    quelling   rebellion    within;    through   the 
dangers  which  years  of  national  prosperity  bring — for 
in  peace  and  prosperity  lurk  dangers  hardly  less  to  be 
dreaded  than  those  which  attend  upon   war  and  adver- 
sity— through  all  these  the  government,  founded  by  our 
fathers,  the  germs  of  which  were  in  the  compact  signed 
in    the    cabin    of    the    Mayflower,    and    the    cardinal 
principles  of   which   were   applied  in  the  founding    of 
these  New  England  towns  and  churches,  this  govern- 
ment by  the  people,  has  remained  unshaken,  and  to-day 
is  stronger,  more  healthful,  and  more  promising  than  at 
the  beginning  of  any  one  of  the  hundred  years  since  its 
birth.     The  future  is  full  of  promise.     That  flag,  with 
which  the  winds  have  now  played  for  a  hundred  years, 
and    which,    during    those    years,  has    won    or    forced 
respect  from  every  nation  on  earth,  guarantees  to  our 
children,  as   it  has    secured  for   us,   the   full   and  free 
enjoyment  of  all  the  rights,  and  the  exercise  of  all  the 
powers,  with  which   God    has   endowed  us.     Its  great 
glory  is  that   it   permits    and    assists  every   man   born 
under  it,  to  make  the  most  of  himself.     It  is  the  flag  of 
the  people,  of  all  the  people.     Like  the  sunlight  and  the 
rain,  like  God  himself,  it  is  no  respecter  of  persons.     It 
floats  with  equal  promise,  over  hut,  cottage  and  palace, 
and  bids  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  this  land,  irre- 
spective of   birth  and  rank,    a  hearty  welcome  to  any 
position  for  which,  by  genius  or  industry — often  these 
are  but  different  names  for  the  same  thing — for  which, 
by  genius  or  industry  they  may  be  fitted.     To  that  flag, 
and  to  the  principles  taught  in  these  free  churches, — to 
that  flag  and  to  the  Bible,  we  are,  as  individuals,  as  a 
community,  and  as  a  people,  in  debt  for  much  that  we 
prize  highest  in  what  we  have,  and  in  what  we  are,  and 


43 

in  that  flag,  and  in  the  Bible,  kept  in  jnst  the  relations 
which  they  have  occupied  in  the  past,  centre  also  our 
highest  hopes  for  the  nation  and  for  our  children.  And 
here  to-day,  to  both  the  flag  and  the  Bible,  we  solemnly 
and  earnestly  swear  eternal  loyalty. 


APPENDIX. 


[Extract  from    Town  Records.] 

"In  1777,  agreeable  to  act  of  Court  entitled  'An  Act  to  prevent 

monopoly  and  oppression,'  the  Selectmen  and  Committee  of  the 

Town  of  Grafton  have  met  and  affixt  and  settled  the  price  of 

articles  hereafter  mentioned,  viz  : — 

s.     d. 

Wheat     Good  and  merchantable  at  6/8  per  bushel  .      6     8 

Rye  Good  and  merchantable  rye  4/4 4     4 

Indian      Corn  and  merchantable  at   3/2 3     2 

Wool       Good  and  merchantable  at  2/  per  lb 2    — 

Pork        Fresh  Pork  well  tatted  and  of  good  quality 

at  4d  per  pound 4 

Pork        Salt  good  midlings  at  8'1 ;    2d  quality  in 

proportion 8 

Beef        good  well  fatted  grass  fed  at  2d  3qua  per 

pound 2f 

"  2d  quality  in  equal  proportion 

Beef        Stallfed  well  fatted  3d  3*"  per  pound 3f 

Hides      Raw  at  /3    per  pound  and  Raw  Calf  at 

/6d  per  pound 3 

Cheese     good  of  the  first  quality  at  /5d  2q"a 5^ 

Butter      at  /9  pr  single  pound, — by  the  firkin  /8 

pr  pound    /8 

Pees        good  at  7/  pr  Bushel 7/ 

Beans       good  at  5/  per  Bushel 5/ 

Potatoes  good  in  the  fall  at  1  /  per  bus.,  in  spring 

l/4d 1/  1 

Stockings  best  yarn  at  6/  pr  pair 6/ 

Shoes       men's  made  of  neats  leather  at  7/6 7/6 

Barley     good  at  3/8d  '. 3/8 

Oats         good  at  1  /9  per  bushel V  ^ 

Innholders  for  a  meal  of  victuals  of  their  best  kind 

not  to  exceed 1/  6 

And  of  common  kind  8d /8 

Phlip        made  of  the  best  New  England  rum  at 

/8d  pr  mug /8 

And  made  from  West  India  rum  not  to 

exceed  /10d /10 


46 

Half  a  gill  of  W.  India  at  /2d  \  a  gill  of  New 
] d  2''r 

For  keeping  a  horse  24  hours  1/3'1 1/  3 

"  "  Oxen  24  hours  1/6 1/6 

For  lodging  a  single  person  over  night /3£ 

Mutton  Stall  fed  at  3d  2^r /3£ 

Veal         good  from  Dec.  1  st  to  May  1  st  at  /3  pr  lb .  /3 

Lamb       good  at  /3d  per  pound /3 

Milk         New  by  grass    at  /ld  3qr  by  Hay  at  /2d 

per  quart /If 

English  Hay  best  kind  2/6  per  hundred 2/6 

Barrels     good  heart  barrels  at  3/4 3/4 

Cider       by  the  barrel  3/  Cash  at  the  press 3/ 

"  Spring  and  Summer  6/ 6/ 

Shoes       for  making  men's  and  women's  shoes  at  2/6.     2/  6 

For  shoeing  a  horse  plain  4/4d 4/  4 

P'or  ploughshares,  Chain,  Crowbars  and  Hoes, 
Cythes  and  all  other  Smith's  work  ac- 
cording to  the  former  custom,  making 
proper  allowance  for  the  extraordinary 
price  of  Iron  and  Steel. 

Charcoal  delivered  /3d  per  bushel /3 

Ox  labour  1/6  pr  day,  horse  2d  per  mile. 

Men's  Labour  from  June  to   loth  of  Aug.  3/  per  day,  from  Aug. 
to  the  last  of  Sept.  2/  per  day,  and  Mar.,  Ap.  and  Nov.  1/8, 
Jan.  Feb.  1  /3  per  day. 
Onions  at  3/  per  bushel. 

Carpenters  labour  from  1st  of  April  to  Oct,  1st  at  3/3d  per  day  to 
be  found  as  usual,  and  so  in  usual  proportion  at  other  seasons 
of  the  year." 

[1777  page  304J 
"  Masons  and  Masonlabour  the  same  as  Carpenters  at  all  seasons 

of  the  year. 
Tanning.  For  tanning  hides  not  to  exceed  1/2  per  pound  and 

skins  in  proportion. 
Cloth  Yard  wide  tow  cloth  at  3/2  pr  yard. 
Maids'  wages  at  2/10d  pr  week. 

Mci i tailors  work  2/2d  per  day,  and  womens  work  at  Tayloring 
10d" 


X 


o<oor-/j. 


